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Early kick-offs are difficult for fans at the best of times, but on the back of a midweek defeat at the hands of Division One opposition today was always going to be tough.
Lots of tired eyes, yawning and very little singing (except for a decent rendition of Liverbird Upon My Chest) in The Albert before the game gave us all some idea of how quiet it was going to be on the ground, but I was surprised just how bad it was when I got in five minutes before kick-off.
People were still walking in as half the crowd mumbled along to You'll Never Walk Alone, while the others were busy recounting how terrible the game with Palace had been.
The game started fairly well, with Liverpool looking most likely to score, while Boro typically prepared for 90 minutes of defending (boring, boring Liverpool??)
As ever, the lads struggled to make the few chances they had count. It was good to see Hamann back in the side. His presence has been missed over the last few weeks but Gerrard's suspension meant the midfield was still not Houllier's first choice.
There was very little in the way of encouragement from The Kop during the first half, unless you count cries of "Come on Danny, get a foot on it!" or "Go forward Jamie for fuck's sake!". There seemed to be more appreciation for the subs warming up than for the players on the field.
The visitors took the lead against the run of play and once again I got that feeling that Houllier's corner still had some turning to do.
An injury to Heskey (knee I believe) meant a change at half time, with fan favourite Milan Baros taking to the field to a round of applause and cries of "Milan! Milan!". Suddenly we had hope that things may turn around.
Smicer was replaced by Diao on the hour. His departure was celebrated by the crowd, who rarely give sunbstituted players the round of applause they deserve (a little bugbear of mine).
As the game went into the final quarter the tension, both on and off the field, was obvious. We really needed to get something out of this game, but Liverpool's unwillingness to attack in numbers against an eight-man defence made for a frustrating few minutes.
Fortunately Riise was there to relieve some of it, striking his shot into the back of the net to level the game and launch The Kop into the 'Oo-Ah' song and lift the spirits slightly.
With 15 minutes to go there should have been time to push for a winner, but Boro tried their utmost to ensure the clock ran down at every opportunity. Schwarzer in particular annoyed us all with his tardiness.
Four minutes of injury time wasn't enough time for us to get a winner and we were left to ponder another wasted couple of points, while the fairly small number of visiting supporters were clearly overjoyed at the result.